Fastening lightweight composite car panels
The application of lightweighting composite materials for high-powered supercars and competition class cars with their inherent benefits in performance and form is well established. More recently the need to reduce CO2 emissions, improve fuel efficiency and counter the increased weight potential of comfort and added safety features has led many high-end luxury car manufacturers to utilise thinner and lighter composite materials, replacing traditional metals and plastics for body panels, exterior mouldings and structural fabrications. As this trend develops, potentially towards mid-range vehicles, the automotive industry is facing the challenge to drive down the manufacturing costs of carbon fibre and other lightweighting material components and is working with its suppliers to develop new production and assembly procedures. As a fundamental part of this process, Bighead, the UK company synonymous with the bonding fastener, has developed new assembly techniques to precision-fix its bigHead fasteners to its customers’ super thin products that can be flexibly and efficiently scaled from prototyping and small scale production all the way through to automated volume production.
